Mervyn Wall (1908–1997) was an Irish writer who was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Wall attended Belvedere College and worked as a civil servant 1934–48, for Radio Éireann from 1948 to 1957, and as Secretary of the Arts Council for 1957–75.

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...

, "Wall, Mervyn" in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', edited by David Pringle. London, St. James Press, 1996. (pp. 585–6). His wife, Frances Feehan, was a theatre and music critic.

Career

Wall published novels, short stories and plays, and wrote for a short-lived literary magazine, '' Ireland Today''. Wall wrote two humorous fantasy novels, ''The Unfortunate Fursey'' and ''The Return of Fursey'', about the misadventures of a monk in Dark Ages Ireland.Robert Hogan, "Mervyn Wall", in E. F. Bleiler, ''Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror''. New York: Scribner's, 1985. (pp. 645–650). The Fursey novels have been highly praised in North America. E. F. Bleiler in ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction'' described ''The Unfortunate Fursey'' as "a landmark book in the history of fantasy". Darrell Schweitzer described Wall as "one of the finest comic fantasists ever, but also one of the most neglected."

Parke Godwin Parke Godwin (January 28, 1929 – June 19, 2013) was an American writer. He won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1982 for his story "The Fire When It Comes". He was a native of New York City, where he was born in 1929. He was the g ...

described both Fursey novels as "''pure gold''".

Writings

Novels

* '' The Unfortunate Fursey'', 1946 * '' The Return of Fursey'', 1948 * '' Leaves for Burning'', 1952 * '' No Trophies Raise'', 1956 * '' Hermitage'', 1982 * '' The Garden of Echoes'', 1982

Plays

* '' Alarm among the Clerks'', 1940 * '' The Lady in the Twilight'', 1971

Other publications

* '' A Flutter of Wings'', 1974, short stories * '' Forty Foot Gentlemen Only'', 1963, history

References

. "Mervyn Wall and the Comedy of Despair" in Schweitzer (ed). ''Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction'', Gillette BJ: Wildside Press, 1986, pp. 56–67.

External links

*
Mervyn Wall Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Mervyn 1908 births 1997 deaths Irish fantasy writers Irish male dramatists and playwrights Writers from Dublin (city) People educated at Belvedere College 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century male writers 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights Irish male novelists